Thai airport workers bring know-how to Iraq

This may come as a total surprise to the people of Thailand, but a group of about 25-30 Thai airport personnel are helping manage the flow of hundreds of pilgrims arriving in the Iraqi city of Najaf, one of the holiest sites of Shia Islam.

The staff, nearly all former staff of the Thai Airport Ground Services (TAGS), are on one-year contracts to help with passenger services and ramp handling. They were once contracted through a Kuwaiti company but are now under the direct employ of Najaf Airport, which kept the staff after the company pulled out following some contractual disagreements.

I bumped into one of them, Chatchawal Damrongphan, at Bahrain Airport while waiting to catch the Gulf Air connection to Najaf. Mr Chatchawal, 50, apparently the most senior among the Thais, said he had been in Iraq for three years as part of the effort by the Iraqi government to develop the airport as a gateway to that strategically significant part of the country.

Located about 250 kilometres south of Baghdad, Najaf features the tomb of Ali Ibne Abu-Talib, son-in-law of the prophet Muhammad. The Shias believe Ali to be Muhammad's immediate successor while the Sunni branch of Islam recognises him as the fourth Caliph.

Najaf and the nearby city of Kufa, where Ali was assassinated, are visited by thousands of Shia Muslims from Iran, India, Pakistan, Bahrain and other Gulf countries with large Shia communities. This traffic movement is one of the less-known aspects of the growing demand for global religious travel.

Mr Chatchawal told me that airlines operating to Najaf today include Iraqi Airways, Bahrain Air, Gulf Air, Mahan Air, Sham Wings (a private Syrian carrier) and a few others. He says the potential is huge but foreign airlines are restricted to only 800 seats a week in order to support the fledgling local carrier Iraqi Airways.

Mr Chatchawal worked in Saudi Arabia for five years. After returning to Thailand for a year, he went to Iraq where he makes US$2,000 a month and sends most of it back home to support his wife and two children, aged 13 and 15.

The Thai group includes two women, one of whom, Kanokporn Thaewthad, 39, works as a passenger services supervisor. Hailing from Krabi, Miss Kanokporn told me she has no family to support, and is perhaps a rarity as a single woman working in such a conflict-ridden part of the Middle East.

The Thais all live in a camp about 10 minutes walk from the airport. They work six months at a stretch and get one month off. They are also supposed to get one day off a week but as there is nothing much for them to do in Najaf, they mostly just stay on the job. The group was 70-strong at one stage, but many have returned home.

All but two of the staff are Buddhists, and they admit to having a tough time living in a society where alcohol and pork are taboo. But, says Miss Kanokporn, "We get used to it."

Another staffer, Anuwat Kardeeroj, 31, a Muslim from Bangkok, said a group of Shia Thai Muslims came to Najaf for a pilgrimage the previous week.

The Thai staff are clearly well-liked by the locals. I saw both Mr Chatchawal and Miss Kanokporn being greeted at the airport by the Iraqi staff like long-lost friends and, in the case of Mr Chatchawal, with the traditional Arab hug and peck on both cheeks.

Asked if Thais are training the local Iraqis to take over their jobs, Mr Chatchawal said it will be a long time before the Iraqis are capable of running the show. In addition to the shortage of qualified manpower, he says there are a lot of internal conflicts amongst the peoples themselves.

Mr Chatchawal introduced me to Essa Al Shemeri, the airport director, a short, powerfully built Iraqi who welcomed me to Najaf with a crisp "sawasdee khrap".

"I've been to Thailand many times," he chortles. "Mostly to Pattaya, in the days when I used to be a bad boy." He says he has also been to Singapore, mostly for work.

Iraq is trying to promote tourism as part of its job-creation programme. Islamic pilgrimage tourism is a natural fit as the country is dotted with mosques, shrines and museums dating back to its historic days as a centre of Islamic education, culture and civilisation.

However, due to ongoing security concerns, there are military checkpoints literally every 500 metres on the provincial roads and every four or five kilometres on the main highways. Mobile phones and cameras are no longer allowed into any of the religious spots.

Imtiaz Muqbil is executive editor of Travel Impact Newswire, an e-mailed feature and analysis service focusing on the Asia-Pacific travel industry.